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Pittsburgh Steelers Need Injured Safety Ryan Clark Against the New York Giants

October 29th, 2012 at 10:22 PM By Mark Mihalko

One of the biggest pieces of news for the Pittsburgh Steelers to come out of Sunday’s match up was the injury to safety Ryan Clark. While it is important, it is nowhere near as important as all of the citizens dealing with changing weather conditions. With the winds swirling outside from Hurricane Sandy, our thoughts and prayers go out to all of Steeler Nation and everyone caught in the path of this monster storm. Everyone out there stay safe.

When Clark left the game in the third quarter of the game against the Washington Redskins with signs of a concussion, it forced the Steelers to finish the game with backups at both safety positions. While that did not come back to haunt the team Sunday, it is a cause of concern moving forward into this week and beyond.

Clark is a leader on defense and is a tone setter, something the team lacks when he is on the sideline. Sure, the Steelers got by in the second half on Sunday, but the Redskins truly lack the talent on the outside or at tight end with Fred Davis out to challenge the secondary the way that the New York Giants can challenge a defense. In addition, the secondary got lucky as the Skins decided to drop more passes than the local high school throws on a Friday night in Pittsburgh.

The Giants are strong in the slot and have the ability to challenge both the cornerbacks and safeties in the running and passing game, not to mention they will likely not drop 10 passes in the game. If Clark is out, the Steelers will have a disadvantage at safety with both Will Allen and Ryan Mundy starting and rookie safety Robert Golden and veteran Damon Cromartie-Smith playing back up.

On a good note, Clark said he was fine as made his way out of the Steelers locker room Sunday, and hopefully, he is just that. This will be an important game and going into the game without Clark and Troy Polamalu would add more unwanted pressure on the defense.